Federal and contractor management failures are to blame for delays and cost overruns on a $300-million powerplant project in Afghanistan, says a new report by the U.S. Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction. The 105-megawatt, dual-fuel Tarakhil Power Plant near Kabul was supposed to be finished by last April. It is now expected to be completed by March 31, a year late and about $40 million over budget. The Jan. 20 report blames the U. S. Agency for International Development and lead contractor Black & Veatch Corp., Overland Park, Kansas. It notes that, “under pressure of political urgency,” the original
Samsung C&T, Korean Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) and the province of Ontario announced on Jan. 21 a $6.6-billion deal—the largest of its kind, they claim—to build, own and operate facilities in the province to produce 500 MW of solar power and 2,000 MW of wind power by 2016. Samsung also will build four manufacturing plants for wind- and solar-energy parts by 2016 and oversee all facility and equipment engineering, construction, procurement and financing. KEPCO will design and connect facilities to the transmission and distribution systems and operate them. Ontario will help procure land. An Ontario Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure
Florida’s transition to more efficient and clean energy production hit a speed bump last month when Juno Beach, Fla.-based FPL Group said it would immediately halt work on approved nuclear and modernization projects that collectively totaled as much as $20 billion. The sudden move came on the heels of the state Public Service Commission rejecting FPL’s requests for rate hikes totaling more than $1 billion. FPL Group Chairman and CEO Lew Hay cited the decision as evidence of a deteriorating regulatory climate in Florida that “is increasingly hostile to investment.” The largest projects are two additional nuclear units at the
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed a $35,000 civil penalty against the Babcock & Wilcox Facility in Lynchburg, Va., claiming the facilities staff failed to declare an alert emergency classification in a timely manner as required by their emergency plan. On July 15, 2009, the firm “failed to declare an emergency for more than two hours after they discovered a band-saw-cooling reservoir did not have the proper criticality controls,” says NRC. While the event posed no threat outside the facility, “the results could have been significant under different circumstances,” says NRC.
The British government this month awarded exclusive development rights for nine offshore wind farms. The combined potential 32,000-MW capacity of the awarded zones would increase the country’s wind-energy generation by nearly 47 times today’s installed capacity of 688 MW, although development is expected to play out over two decades. + Image Map: Crown Estate Offshore Wind Zones Industry appetite for offshore wind led The Crown Estate, which is responsible for coastal waters, to raise the scope of the nine sites from the 25,000 MW originally proposed, says a spokesman. East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd., a Spanish-Swedish joint venture, won the
A new law went into effect on Jan. 1 in Washington, D.C. requiring building owners to begin measuring the energy use of new and existing commercial buildings using the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool. The law, approved and signed in 2008, is the first in the nation to require building owners to publicly disclose their energy ratings to prospective tenants and buyers. Building owners must begin revealing their energy ratings beginning on Jan. 1, 2012. You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” says Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Jan. 4 he would meet with stakeholders on the future of the planned $1-billion Cape Wind wind farm in Nantucket Sound after the National Park Service ruled that its planned site is eligible for listing as a national historic site because of cultural significance to two local Native American tribes. The project, located off the Massachusetts coast, would be the country’s first offshore wind farm. It would involve construction of 130 turbines, each 440 ft high, and other structures. Environmentalists and other opponents claim the project, being developed by Cape Wind Associates LLC,
Wind-energy developers are working with the state of Hawaii and Hawaii’s largest electric utility to develop wind resources on two islands and deliver power to Oahu. One estimate pegs the program’s cost at $3 billion, but another source says it could cost twice that amount. + Image Photo: Illustration by Martha Hernandez, Courtesy of The Honolulu Advertiser Interisland Wind Project: University of Hawaii performed a sea-floor survey and feasibility study for the state to identify routes and possible obstacles for cable. The Interisland Wind Project encompasses two 200-MW wind farms to be developed on the islands of Lanai and Molokai,
Geothermal energy “appeared to be on a launch trajectory” in 2009, says the Geothermal Energy Association in its year-end report. With more than 3,150 MW of geothermal capacity on line in the U.S. in August and 144 new geothermal plants under development, the Washington, D.C.-based industry association says the accelerating growth could add 7,000 MW of new plants. The U.S. already leads the world in geothermal installed capacity and could have 10,000 MW in a few years, officials say. GEA credits state and federal policies—including state renewables portfolio standards, the Dept. of Energy’s extension of a loan program for innovative
Wind energy from north-central Oregon will power homes in Southern California when an 845-MW wind farm is completed in 2012. Turbine supplier GE and developer Caithness Energy LLC say the $2-billion project, with 338 wind turbines sprawling across 30 sq miles near the town of Arlington, Ore., will be the world’s largest operating wind farm. Photo: GE Wind turbines to be installed in Oregon will be GE’s largest in the U.S, but similar machines have been successfully operating for several years in Europe and Asia. Under a $1.4-billion contract, Fairfield, Conn.-based GE will furnish and deliver its newest 2.5-MW wind
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